Bogus Bob "B.S." Scheer (aka "Bob the Gullible", "Bob the Credulous", "Pyongyang Bob", and "Bob of the Ten-Thousand Canards") seems to have bought the BBC Jessica Lynch hoax hook, line and sinker.
After a thorough investigation, the British Broadcasting Corp. has presented a shocking dissection of the "heroic" rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch, as reported by the U.S. military and a breathless American press.
"Her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived," the BBC concluded—the polite British way of saying "liar, liar, pants on fire."
Hint: If you read something in a Bob Scheer column, it is almost certainly wrong. When Bob Scheer savages someone with criticism, then that person is almost certainly doing a lot of good.
Coming soon: The Robert Scheer Canard-o-matic
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 20, 2003 05:37 PMStefan,
You seem so concerned about Blair and Scheer etc. and the responsibility of journalists. Well you are a journalist of sorts now (and aI rather interesting one, btw.)
Yet why no response about my comments on the Israel Harel article which you cited on May 15? (If it is I who is wrong, then that would be a fair critique.)
I believe that his article was so misleading as to rise to a level which suggests comment from the person who recommended it.
Posted by: Dave on May 20, 2003 06:19 PMThe trick with Scheer, is to find the stray fact,
that may have slipped in; by accident. (Ie; Nazeriyah is in Iraq, Lynch is from W. Va, et al)
Much the same as Fisk, Rall, Moore, Ivins, et al.
Scheer was right once, in 1999, when he played an instrumental role in reversing the unnecessary and confusing overlay area code for the 310 area. Aside from the "stray facts" Narciso describes above, I don't think he's gotten anything right since. That makes him quite a bit less reliable than a stopped (analog) clock.
Posted by: Xrlq on May 21, 2003 12:06 PMDave,
First of all, I don't hold myself out to have the same implied quality of service that a full-time paid journalist with a full-time editor is supposed to have.
On the other hand, I do have a comments section (which Bob Scheer and Jayson Blair don't have), so that when a reader like yourself wishes to critique something that I write or link to, you can do so, and your comments are permanently attached to the entry. (To remind the readers, the entry you are referring to is here). Even if I don't follow up and respond to every criticism that someone raises about everything I link to (or criticism of the criticism) anybody who reads that entry can also read your comments and draw their own conclusions about the piece in question.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on May 21, 2003 12:20 PM